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Title: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams by Lawrence Block, Adams Morgan ISBN: 0-7861-1543-2 Publisher: Blacksmith Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: June, 1999 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 6 List Price(USD): $44.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (8 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Bernie Burgles Again . . . and Again . . . and Again!
Comment: Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing valuables. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. Very nice!

So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams is the sixth book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, and The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Although, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart comes next in the series.

As this book opens, Bernie has been going straight . . . for almost a year. Barnegat Books, a used hard cover book store he owns and operates, has been providing his living rather than burglary. Then, he receives a double shock. His new landlord is Bordon Stoppelgard, and with his 30 year lease at an end, Mr. Stoppelgard announces that the new lease will be for $10,500 a month rather than $875. How can Bernie afford that? He can't. Then, Stoppelgard comes into Barnegat Books to buy a first edition of Sue Grafton's "B" Is for Burglar for $80 plus tax. Bernie tries to refuse him the sale, but Stoppelgard insists, slapping a hundred-dollar bill on the counter. Then he laughs at Bernie for selling a five-hundred-dollar book for so little.

But Bernie's sorely tempted to burgle again . . . both for the money and the thrills he gets from burglary. That temptation is particularly great just now because Bernie knows that the wealthy Martin Gilmartins will be out for the evening. Bernie does his best to avoid temptation . . . and succeeds. His only slip is to call Mr. Gilmartin from Carolyn Kaiser's apartment to ask him how he liked the show . . . a call that can be traced by the police when Mr. Gilmartin discovers a burglary has been committed and valuable baseball cards are missing. Bernie's alibi isn't very good because he decides to go out after leaving Carolyn. Someone might think he was visiting a fence to sell the baseball cards. What to do?

Most people will find The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams to be the very best book in the series. The plot is deliciously complicated and unusual. There are mysteries galore to solve, and it's not clear until near the end who did what to whom. The satirical references to mystery novels and novelists are priceless (these include wickedly twisted misstatements of Sue Grafton titles and stories, and a hilarious sequence about cats solving mysteries referring to the Lillian Jackson Braun books). The book also introduces Raffles, Bernie?s new mouse-exterminating-assistant cat who is always on the paper chase, and Carolyn's offbeat theories about women and cats. The baseball card trivia about the Chalmers Mustard Ted Williams set will delight any collector or fan. The comic sequences had me laughing out loud as Bernie finds unexpected surprises as he employs his burglary talents. Bernie also discovers a new source of income which most readers would not have anticipated. Some of the new characters will also amuse or delight you, even though they are only in this book. In essence, there's enough good material in this book for four excellent novels. And it's all nicely pulled together.

How will Bernie save the store? Who took the baseball cards? How will Bernie solve the other puzzles in the book? You are making a big mistake if you don't read this book!

The theme of this book is whether honesty or dishonesty pays better . . . and why. Where do you see dishonest people doing better than honest ones now? Will that continue? Why or why not?

Donald Mitchell
Co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Rating: 5
Summary: fun from both sides of the law
Comment: Given the Splendid Splinter's recent death, I couldn't resist this title, and in the process, I discovered that Lawrence Block is one of the more clever authors of this day. Our hero is a used book seller and a part time burglar, who tends to use his skills for good rather than evil. One minor complaint is we are often led down a path, only to be filled in later by Bernie the burglar of a fact he had been withholding the reader for a few chapters. But all in all, this light hearted book is fun, and easily readable. I plan to try out more of Mr Block's works.

Rating: 4
Summary: Burglary, Bookstore and Mystery
Comment: This light-hearted venture into the world of Bernie Rhodenbarr, burglar extraordinaire and bookstore owner contains much of the sharp, witty dialogue of the previous books in the series only sharper and wittier. The discussion between Bernie and Carolyn over the sexual preference of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone is priceless. This is a sometimes-confusing mystery involving a series of events that sees Bernie burgle an apartment, return the booty and then re-enter the place to plant evidence after finding a corpse in the bathroom. Bernie sets out to work out who committed the murder, plus who committed a burglary that he's been mistakenly charged with. This is a most entertaining mystery that continues to keep you thinking, while providing plenty of smiles along the way.